#10 - Blog review

Alright, so for my special #10, i've decided to review <insert drum roll here> Hunter's blog.
It's not yet connected to Mr. Lynn's blog, so for those interested:

http://insidetheslaughterhouse.blogspot.com/

Without further ado...

I simply have to comment on his post "Playworthy?" first. Because, the more I read through it, the more it reminded me of a film: Inception. Although one is a movie and Hunter is talking about plays, they have inherent similarities.
"[a] major problem with this book adapted to a play is the obvious lack of character development." Besides the main character in inception, there really is no character development. But to be fair, Dom does show a huge change when he was finally able to accept the fact that his wife was gone and that he was only seeing illusions. Although, the movie revolved a lot around the concept that Dom was unable to let go of his past, and that he was trapped himself in a world that he did not want to escape from. Some very heart-wrenching and complicated things, made all the more bittersweet by the beautiful acting and occasional histrionics. in SH%, Vonnegut presents us with Billy, a character that has already reached this stage - acceptance. Basically, Vonnegut skips the exciting, possibly life changing moments of Billy Pilgrim, and shows us the afterward. Perhaps if there was a section on "Billy's reaction the first time he traveled through time". That might have been interesting.

Going though Hunter's analysis, we can note that inception's plot is confusing. In fact, most viewers who don't sit through the full 2 hours and some minutes won't get the movie at all. The story is written in choppy parts and, true to Christopher Nolan's style, falls into place piece by piece to create a masterpiece. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps. In SH5, due to the lack of personal realization in the character of Billy, the plot had little going for it. There was no obstacle to overcome, or task to fulfill. It was mundane description of a mundane person facing extraordinary circumstances.

Hunter also mentions "the lack of a good ending". The only thing I have to say this is: sometimes no ending is the best ending.

Hunter's next post deals with whether or not Billy is actually time traveling, and I have to talk about this because, coincidentally, Hunter and I share the same opinion: "Billy is in some military hospital somewhere in a comatose state". Maybe not specifically a military hospital, but comatose state? Bingo.
I also love the sentence: "His wild fabrications can best be described as an escape from reality." I couldn't have put it better. This is a wild take on the novel because the whole novel, Vonnegut impresses that Billy has accepted fate, but by putting Billy's experiences into a sentence like this one, it directly belies this message. A wild stab, very risky, but could be dead on. I love it. If Billy Prilgrim really has invented all these wild adventures, or maybe it was a ploy of his subconscious, either way, I think this makes the novel that much more real. As humans, we run away, we cower, but we survive. Sadly, the coward have the highest survival rate.


"The Severity of the Theft of a Teapot" I smiled when I read that. In this article, Hunter explains the nature of Edgar Derby's crime. I won't summarize it because I know you're capable of reading it yourself, and also because I won't do it any justice. Anyway, after reading the article, something a teacher once told my class echoed in the back of my mind: "stealing is stealing. It doesn't matter if you stole a ten cent candy or the castle from Disneyworld, either the police will catch you, or the evil witch. And this is very true. Hunter mentioned "that Edgar Derby did not deserve his extreme punishment", and he continued to state that " at the very least, he would have gotten lashes".
Although, I still think Kurt just puts this bit into the novel and claims that it is the climax because the backdrop makes it so abominable, it's disgustingly hilarious. People were bombed alive and the entire city was in ruins. As if there wasn't enough death, some guy takes a teapot and is shot for it.

Anywho, I really enjoyed reading Hunter's blog.

p.s. Hunter, you should be a lawyer =D

~ceci